Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1934, SYDNEY HODKINSON
received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the Eastman School of
Music where he studied composition with Louis Mennini and Bernard Rogers. He
continued his studies in composition at the Princeton Seminars with Elliott
Carter, Roger Sessions, and Milton Babbitt. Hodkinson received his Doctor of
Musical Arts Degree from the University of Michigan in 1968, studying with
Leslie Bassett, Niccolo Castiglioni, Ross Lee Finney and George B. Wilson.
Brief private studies with Benjamin Britten and Luigi
Dallapiccola ensued.
Dr. Hodkinson has taught at the
Universities of Virginia, Ohio and Michigan and, during
1970-72, served as artist-in-residence in Minneapolis under a grant from the
Ford Foundation Contemporary Music Project. He joined the faculty of the Conducting and Ensembles Department of the
Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in 1973, assuming the
directorship of the Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble and later, the Kilbourn
Orchestra. During l984-86, he served as Meadows Distinguished Professor of
Composition at Southern Methodist University and in 1991 was Visiting
Professor of Composition at the University of Western Ontario. In 1995,
Hodkinson assumed teaching duties in the Composition Department at the
Eastman School until his retirement in January of 1999. Since then, he has
conducted the New Music Group at Oberlin
College (2001), served as Visiting Professor of Composition at Indiana
University (2002), Duke University (2003), and in 2004 accepted the Almand Chair
of Composition at Stetson University, DeLand, Florida. Hodkinson also
currently conducts the Contemporary Ensemble and teaches composition at the
Aspen Colorado Music Festival and School.
Hodkinson has
written over 250 works covering a vast range of genres: educational pieces, an
incredible variety of chamber music, including six string quartets, a
prolific output of choral, operatic and vocal music, and large orchestral
canvases, with concerti for English Horn, voice, violin, and clarinet. His
Seventh and Ninth Symphonies are scored for
large wind ensemble.
Monumentum Pro Umbri , for winds was awarded the 2004 Audience Prize and second
place in from the International Harmonie Composition Contest of Harelbeke,
Belgium. Recent works include a Piano Concerto, commissioned by the Hanson
Institute for American Music for pianist Barry Snyder , to be premiered in the
Fall of 2006, the choral Cantata Sancta for the University of Evansville,
Allez-Y!, a scherzo for violin virtuoso Oleh Krysa and two solo string pieces:
Sojournen for viola, and Trance for violoncello. Recent projects include a
July 2005 premiere of Bricks: Concerto-Fantasia
for violin and chamber ensemble, and
his Sixth String Quartet.
Awards include the National
Institute of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Foundation, the Canada Council, The
National Endowment for the Arts, International Congress of Jeunesses
Musicales, Farnsley Prize of the Louisville Orchestra, Danforth Foundation,
and the Ford Foundation. Compositions by BMI affiliate Hodkinson appear in the
catalogs of Theodore Presser, American Composers Alliance, Associated Music
Publishers (G. Schirmer), Ludwig Music Pub. Co., Music for Percussion,
Editions Jobert, Ricordi, Columbia University Music Press, Dorn
Publications, Transcontinental and Smith Music Publications. Activities as
composer/conductor are recorded
on CRI, Grenadilla, Louisville, Advance, Albany,
Nonesuch, Centaur, CBC, Novisse, Mark, Innova, and Pantheon
labels.
Mr.
Hodkinson, a US citizen since 1995, is married to violinist Elizabeth Deischer.
They have three sons and currently
reside in Ormond-By-The-Sea, Florida.
